Monday, 28 March 2016

Hope everyone's been having a fabulous Easter break. Here's something
for you all play along to... it's the original Co*Star record featuring
Vincent Price. And if anyone has the script that goes along with this,
please do let me know (as my copy never included one).

But before that, here's a video starring one of our group members, London DJ Jai Rathbone, performing a scene from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

Friday, 18 March 2016

You're invited to a special evening dedicated to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, as read by horror icon Vincent Price on Saturday 21 May 2016 in central London.

First up will be Poe, Price and The Core,
a live Poe-gressive rock and electronica musical performance showcasing
the velvet voice of Vincent Price as inspired by the Master of Menace's
best-known 1960s Gothic chillers. This will be followed by a screening
of the rarely-seen 1970 TV special An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe in which Vincent Price does Poe unplugged in four tales of terror: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum. Plus, some very special surprises!

This will be held upstairs at The King & Queen public house in the heart of London’s up-and-coming Fitzrovia.

A Celestial Tribunal has been convened to decide the fate of the Earth after the invention of nuclear weapons, with Mr Scratch (aka The Devil in the form of Vincent Price) and The Spirit of Man (Ronald Colman) debating if humankind should be allowed to continue or be exterminated once and for all.

Cue: the two sides revisiting key moments in history to prove their points, and let the roll calls commence. Look out for Dennis Hopper as Napoleon, Hedy Lamarr as Joan of Arc, Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra, Peter Lorre as Nero, Edward Everett Horton as Sir Walter Raleigh, and Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, and Chico Marx playing Peter Minuit, Sir Isaac Newton, and a monk.

Saturday, 12 March 2016

If you want to support those people promoting Vincent’s legacy, well
here’s a list of just some the Vincent Price nominees. To vote, send
those selections, along with your name and any other selections you
might want to add, to this email: taraco@aol.com.

Among those other nominees are Victoria Price, who really deserves
the big one: being inducted into the Monster Kid Hall of Fame for her tireless devotion to her dad’s legacy. Check them all out here: http://rondoaward.com/

Friday, 11 March 2016

DID YOU KNOW? On March 11 2006, the Movieland Wax Museum in Buena
Park, California auctioned off all of their waxworks. The museum opened in 1962 by Allen Parkinson and was later sold to Six
Flags. Featuring over 300 figures and 150 sets, it was a huge
attraction, boasting some 10 million visitors during its lifetime. It closed on Halloween in
2005.

The auction saw everything
inside the building sold off, not just the wax figures of celebrities,
but also the costumes that had been donated by the stars for their
likenesses, the fine art that hung on the walls, marble carved actual replicas of Michaelangelo's David and The Pieta, and their complete Star Trek set. Oh, the pain. I so wish I had been there to make a bid on Vincent's Henry Jarrod (below). And whatever happened to it anyhow?

Wednesday, 9 March 2016

On 20 February 1974 in the US, ABC’s Wide World of Entertainment presented The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute, an entertaining 70-minute videotaped TV production hosted by Vincent Price, which you can watch now in full below.

If you want to find out more about the show, which also featured guest stars John Gorshin and John Astin, as well as John Carradine and author Raymond McNally, then head on over to the new-look Sound of Vincent Price website.

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

The Screen's Immortals... A movie you'll never forget. Here's something to pencil into your diaries. On Monday 14 March, the
BFI Southbank has a matinee screening in NFT1 of Lindsay Anderson's
final feature, 1987's The Whales of August, which not only featured a
dream cast (Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, Vincent Price and Ann Sothern)
but also a story with a passionate heart that allowed these veteran
talents to shine one last time. A talk on filmmaker Lindsay Anderson will
also take place at 11am. Both events are FREE if you
are over-60 (otherwise normal NFT prices apply). Click on the link to
buy tickets http://bit.ly/1nRy2Xy

• But don't worry if you can't make the screening as we've got the entire film for you to watch here. Check it out below.

Photographs fade. Memories live forever. The Whales of August tells the story of two elderly widowed sisters near
the end of their lives, spending a summer in a seaside house in Maine (the real-life Pitkin Point House on Cliff Island, off Casco Bay in Portland).
The surroundings cause them to recall their relationship as young women,
and the summers they had enjoyed there in the past. They reflect on the
passage of time, and the bitterness, jealousies and misunderstandings
that slowly festered over the years and kept them from establishing a
true closeness in their relationship.

Libby, played by Bette Davis, is
the more infirm of the two sisters, and her nature has become bitter and
cold as a result. Sarah, played by Lillian Gish, is a softer and more tolerant
character, intent on nursing her sister through her discomfort and
trying to breach the gulf that has grown between them. The resentment
that Libby so clearly displays to her stifles Sarah's every attempt at
making a friendly overture towards her, and Sarah cautiously retreats
from her.

Mr Maranov (Vincent Price) is a Russian emigré who provides a romantic
interest for Sarah, and helps her to recall the happiness of her youth,
while also reminding her of the marriage and husband that she has lost.
Tisha (Ann Sothern) is the vivacious lifelong friend who provides common
sense, fun and laughter, and is the catalyst for some of the sisters'
conversations and revelations. In flashbacks, actresses Margaret Ladd,
Mary Steenburgen and Tisha Sterling (Sothern's real-life daughter) play
respectively Libby, Sarah, and Tisha as young women.

A GIFT FROM MR PRICE
Now here's something I'd like to share with you all (well, almost). It's a postcard I received from Vincent on 3 July 1987 which mentions him appearing in The Whales of August. I love this card as it hits straight at Vinnie's passion for the arts. Its on a repro of Piero della Francesca's La Vittoria di Costantino su Massenzio from the Basilica di S Francesco in Srezzo, Toscana, which he must have collected during his travels in Italy during his lifetime. Mind you, Vinnie had just returned from a cruise with Coral in China and Japan when he wrote this card - and in the same week he dined with Dali, Plummer and Roddy McDowell and on Saturday 38 June attended a wedding. Sorry, but I've blacked out some personal bits.